Proving a Point
by Anonyme
Summary: Jess is tired of everyone treating her like a kid who always needs looking after. Prompt from the Just Kiss Her Already drabble tag at LJ.


Jess hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but when she heard Markham grumbling about what a liability she was, she couldn't help herself. It hadn't helped that Price had chimed in wondering if she was just that way naturally or if it was all a ploy to just be noticed.

Markham laughed and then made a snide comment about her short skirts and heels and how it was impossible, even for their normally seemingly oblivious Captain, to not notice when she was just trying too hard to get his attention.

She was just about to march in and defend herself and remind them that _**SHE**_ had been the one who'd fought off the future predators after Lester had been injured. She was also going to point out that she'd done this with an almost drained EMD, AND that she'd done it in her apparently inappropriate work attire. However, the sound of Becker yelling at the two soldiers stopped her.

Shaking her head, Jess hurried as quickly and quietly as she could back to the Hub. The rest of the day, she couldn't help noticing how everyone was treating her. Even Connor and Abby had, at times, treated her like she was this quirky little kid who needed to be saved, even if it was just from something as mundane as paperwork.

By the end of her shift, she'd had enough. And she was going to do something about it.

The next morning Jess strode into Lester's office with the files he'd requested, the reports from the day before (which he hadn't yet requested), and the budget requests (which weren't due until the end of the week).

He hadn't seen who'd entered his office as he'd been on the phone with his chair turned away from the door and when he did finally turn around, his eyes focused on the papers that had already been placed on his desk, not the person placing them there.

Once all was before him, he looked up, expecting to see one of those shockingly bright coloured, scandalously short skirt outfit thingies that Jess seemed to favour. What he actually saw was a soft gray jumper and a black mid-calf length pencil skirt.

Confused, Lester stood up and leaned across his desk, forcing a very confused Jess to take a step back. _Dear God,_ Lester thought looking at the low heeled black pumps that were on her feet, _sensible shoes! Well for Jess anyway._ Lester sat back in his char with a thud. He couldn't keep the concern from his voice as he asked her if she was feeling okay.

Jess smiled, replied that she was fine, and left his office.

Matt, Emily, Connor, and Abby were all in the break room when Jess walked in to fix herself a cup of tea. It was the first time any of them had seen Jess that day; she'd left well before Abby and Connor had gotten up, and Matt and Emily had been holed up in his office working on Emily's history.

They'd all greeted her when she'd entered, but as her back was to them, she didn't see four heads shoot up in unison, all with matching confused looks on their faces. She thought she'd heard Connor whistle under his breath, but she didn't pay it any attention.

Matt stopped staring long enough to get Abby's attention. Once he had it, he jerked his head in Jess' direction and mouthed "What the hell?" to her. Abby shrugged her shoulders, unable to explain why Jess looked so decidedly un-Jesslike.

"Jess," Abby asked cautiously, "are you feeling okay?"

Jess smirked, took a sip of her tea, and turned to face Abby. "I'm fine. Why?"

"Um, no reason, I guess," Abby answered.

Jess walked over to the table and looked at Matt. "Matt, just to remind you, you have a meeting at three with Lester to go over the history you've created for Emily. He'd like you to be finished with it if at all possible by that time."

She then turned to Abby. "I have the specs you needed for the new enclosures for the menagerie. I've sent them to your computer. If you have any questions, let me know. If everything looks good then I'll send it to Lester for approval."

"Okay."

"Connor, Becker would like to talk to you at some point today to discuss increasing the power in the EMD rifles. He'd like it so that it only takes one or two shots to bring down a T-Rex."

"Um, right. I can do that."

"Thanks." Jess glanced over at Emily. "We're still on for lunch today, right?"

Emily smiled. "Yes. I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too," Jess answered as she turned to leave.

"Jess?"

Emily waited until Jess had turned back around before she continued. "You look lovely today."

Jess smiled. "Thank you."

She ran into Becker outside the armory. "I talked to Connor and he'll be coming to see you later about the EMDs."

Becker just stared at her. Jess tilted her head and began waving her hand in front of Becker's face. "Becker?" She leaned a little closer. "Becker?"

Becker blinked a couple of times, shook his head, and took a step back. "What?"

Jess smiled. "Connor is going to come talk to you about the EMDs later."

"The EMDs?"

She sighed. "You wanted to see if he could create a higher setting on them in case you needed to use them on a T-Rex again," she reminded him.

"Oh yeah. Right. Thanks."

She started to walk away when Becker called after her. "Yes?" she asked as she turned back to face him.

"Are you… I mean, um, is everything okay?" he asked.

Jess smiled at the concern she heard in his voice. Then she chuckled quietly. "Everything's fine, Becker."

Becker watched her walk to the elevator, his head tilting slightly as he enjoyed the view her very fitted skirt was giving him.

Jess stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the second floor. As the doors closed, she noticed Becker was still staring. And she smiled.

Just as Jess and Emily returned from lunch an anomaly opened just outside the ARC's parking garage. Jess expertly guided them, as usual, and within minutes, the anomaly was locked with no incursions having happened.

As the team dropped their black boxes off one by one, she gave them each a message that their presence was required at the firing range at four that afternoon. When Becker finally approached, she'd changed the message slightly, stating that Lester had requested his presence at the firing range at four. Becker stared at her for a moment, almost as if she was a puzzle, before nodding and leaving.

Jess smiled to herself and then stood. Stepping down from the ADD, she went to Lester's office to give him the initial report. When she'd finished, she the told him that Becker wanted to see him at the firing range at four.

"You'll have to tell Becker we need to do it another time. I have that meeting with Matt."

"That's at three and Becker has requested that Matt be there as well. Along with Abby, Connor, and Emily."

Lester sat back in his chair and let out an annoyed sigh. "Fine. But if he's trying to prove a point in order to get his "real" guns back, he's out of luck. The EMDs stay."

Jess nodded. "Yes, sir."

At four pm, six very confused people stood outside one of the booths at the firing range. Lester and Becker were having an animated discussion about why they were there, each insisting that they'd never said anything about wanting to see the other down here.

"Well who the bloody hell told you I wanted to meet you down here, of all places?" Lester shouted.

"Jess. She said that you wanted to talk to me about something down here," Becker answered, his frustration with Lester's denial of wanting to meet him becoming obvious.

"I told her no such thing. It seems I need to have a word with our Miss Parker."

"Actually, you don't," Jess stated calmly as she handed headphones out to everyone gathered, keeping a pair for herself.

"Jess, what's going on?" Abby asked. "You've been acting a little weird all day."

"Actually Abby, I haven't been acting weird. And as to what's going on, I'm proving a point."

"What point, Jess?" Matt asked.

"That just because I'm young and I like fun clothes, that does not make me incapable of doing my job or defending myself and others if needs be." Jess then turned around and placed the headphones over her ears. She glanced back over her shoulder, just to make sure they'd all done the same, and then she picked up the Glock that had been resting on the table in the booth. She checked the clip, chambered a round, released the safety, and fired six quick shots at the target that had been prepared.

She put the safety back on and placed the gun back on the table. Pressing the button to bring the target forward, she spared a glance behind her and had to turn back around quickly to prevent herself from laughing at the reactions she saw. When the target finally reached her, she stepped aside so that everyone could see.

"Jess, remind me not to piss you off," Connor said.

"Next time, you get to deal with the gropey ones when we go out dancing," Abby stated as she clapped a hand on Jess' shoulder, staring admiringly at the paper.

Matt was next, telling her she'd done well, and that for his part, he's always known that she's very capable of doing her job. An opinion that Emily had quickly seconded. Jess smiled at them and then turned expectantly to Lester and Becker.

Lester stepped forward and took a look at the target then he looked back at Jess. "It seems that all the time you've spent hanging around Captain Becker has paid off. Now, if that's all, I think there are other things we should all be doing."

Jess smiled as Lester herded them off the firing range and back to work. When he'd reached the door himself, Lester stopped and turned back to Jess. "And Miss Parker, don't tell someone I want a meeting with them unless I actually ask for that meeting. Understood?"

Jess sighed. "Yes, sir."

As the others followed Lester out, Jess stood beside the booth, her target waving slightly behind her. She stared at Becker, who had yet to say anything. Shaking her head, she moved to take the target down, but quickly found herself trapped against the side of the booth by Becker.

"Jessica?"

"Yes, Becker?"

He slowly leaned forward until his lips brushed the shell of her ear. He pressed a light kiss there and whispered, "Is that my Glock?"

Jess shivered at the feel of his lips on her ear. She placed her hand lightly on his cheek then slowly moved it to cradle the back of his head. Following his earlier actions, she pressed a barely-there kiss to his cheek before whispering back, "Why, did you like the way I handled your gun?"

As soon as the words were out, she dropped her hand from his head and tried push him away, but he kept her trapped where she was. She slapped both hands over her mouth and stared at him, horrified just knowing that her face and neck had gone bright red.

Becker leaned back and couldn't stop himself from laughing.

"Oh God! I didn't just say that. Please, tell me I didn't just say that."

She tried to get away again, but Becker wrapped his arms around her, pulled her closer, and proceeded to kiss her senseless. When he finally pulled back, he was rewarded with Jess' glazed expression. "There you are," he chuckled.

"What?"

"You've been far too serious today. Had me worried there for a bit. I thought there might be something really wrong," he answered as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Jess ducked her head, "Sorry."

Becker smiled at her before turning to retrieve his Glock. After taking out the clip and checking the chamber was empty, he slipped it into his waistband at his back, pocketed the magazine, and hauled Jess back to his side. Giving her a quick kiss, he steered her along with him as they made their way off the firing range. "And yes."

Jess was confused. "Yes, what?"

"Actually, I didn't just like it, I _loved_ the way you handled my gun."

Jess rolled her eyes and smacked his arm playfully. "You are never going to let me forget I said that, are you?

Becker stopped and looked at her thoughtfully. "Nope."

"Fine," Jess pouted.

Becker just smirked at her.

"And did I prove my point?"

"Loud and clear, Miss Parker. Loud and clear."


End file.
